Agilis is Michelin, it replaced the Defender LTX. If you're looking for a solid alternative, the American-made Cooper HT3 is well-regarded by the GMCMH community.
Tires - Ugh
- Thread starter 74_Coach
- Start date
On my European MH (a Hymer T698CL) I have a excellent experience with the Continental All Vanco Four Season 2, and one of our Belgium friends switched two years ago too. He was totally enthusiastic about them on the GMC.
How is the availability in the US ? ... i know that several Canadian MH manufacturers mount them, or order them on their Mercedes Chassis.
By the time we can return to the US and travel again I think the Hankooks that now mounted need replacement.
How is the availability in the US ? ... i know that several Canadian MH manufacturers mount them, or order them on their Mercedes Chassis.
By the time we can return to the US and travel again I think the Hankooks that now mounted need replacement.
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My Michelins are over 10 years old and still look like new. I am going to change them soon. My coach is always garaged so the tires are still looking perfect with no cracks. I think the sun does most of the damage. I always have kept them covered, even when in a campsite.
My Michelin LTX’s looked new but were causing drive ability issues that I discussed on post #5 in this thread. All 6 new Michelin tires have a November 2020 date code.
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I don't have a GMC anymore. Sold it about 12 years ago.. I have the only short bed diesel pusher motorhome at only 26 feet. It was custom built for the CEO of Wanderlodge. It's on a Bluebird chassis.
Interesting. I hadn’t heard of Wanderlodge so I looked it up and found this 36’ for sale: https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/1991-Blue-Bird-WANDERLODGE-WANDERLODGE-SP36-5016835656
I got tired of the GMC wandering steering and terrible gas mileage so I bought the diesel pusher short bus. Man, what a difference. Never looked back. Lotsa power too. But it's time to buy tires. I am considering Toyo. They are Japanese and said to be a high quality tire.
Never used their truck tires, but Toyo makes a great road racing tire... I've burned up quite a few sets of RA-1s going back a long time, then R-888s and now R-888Rs.... Never had a bad one....
I think they got it right.... The GMC motorhome steers much better than any truck chassis I've ever driven... The caveat being you need to follow the instructions on how to align all the parts in the steering system to the letter.... Had lots of help getting mine dialed in from people on this and on the other forum.
My motorhome handles great... And this is coming from someone who has been putting his sports cars out on the racetrack since the mid-90s....
I guess they could have done maybe a 6V53 or 53T Detroit.... Doubt it would have fit under the hatch, and it would have been loud as hell.... But that would probably be about right for our coach....
Actually, I think the best part about going diesel would be the turbo (if you went turbo diesel) Be nice when driving through the mountains to have an engine that is turbo-normalized...
I believe on the 2 stroke detroits, the blower does not add any "boost", per se. You would need a turbo, 2 stroke motor to see the benefits of boost in a diesel....
Actually, I think the best part about going diesel would be the turbo (if you went turbo diesel) Be nice when driving through the mountains to have an engine that is turbo-normalized...
I believe on the 2 stroke detroits, the blower does not add any "boost", per se. You would need a turbo, 2 stroke motor to see the benefits of boost in a diesel....
Mark,
When it comes to diesels, you are in my world....
None of the GM uniflow 2-strokes would package in a coach ever. The Vogue coaches did a package with a 6-53. As the GM diesels before the 60 series were all uniflows, the roots blower could be set up to provide "boost" (as in above atmosphere when the intake ports are closed), but the power demand to do this is a continual drag. So, even GM and EMD added a turbocharger to get boost when power demand warranted it. Diesels love boost because they are always charge air short for the fuel that they could use and the low clearance volume means that the higher back pressure is no penalty.
Matt
When it comes to diesels, you are in my world....
None of the GM uniflow 2-strokes would package in a coach ever. The Vogue coaches did a package with a 6-53. As the GM diesels before the 60 series were all uniflows, the roots blower could be set up to provide "boost" (as in above atmosphere when the intake ports are closed), but the power demand to do this is a continual drag. So, even GM and EMD added a turbocharger to get boost when power demand warranted it. Diesels love boost because they are always charge air short for the fuel that they could use and the low clearance volume means that the higher back pressure is no penalty.
Matt
Huh, I never realized that about the GM blowers, but it makes sense... If they can use a variant of that blower to make boost in a top fuel car, I guess they can make boost in a diesel. I think I read somewhere that it takes like 800hp to spin the blower on one of those cars....
I've never had the opportunity to work on a 2 stroke detroit... Been infatuated with them for a long time, though.... Been watching a lot of the busgreasemonkey youtube channel lately, which features a traveling bus mechanic that uses his 47 silversides RV to travel around working on primarily GM buses... I think I was sold when he did an in frame rebuild on the 6-71 in his personal bus in the street in front of his house...
I keep joking with my wife (well, half joking, half serious) that my mid-life crisis purchase won't be a sports car... I've always had several sports cars or sports car projects pretty much back since I was a teenager... Wouldn't make sense to buy another. No, my midlife crisis purchase will probably be something with a 2 stroke detroit... Generator or an old GM bus are about the only things I can think of I could justify buying by saying it would be "Useful" for the family.... Though a truck would be cool, too.
You also mentioned EMD diesels... I grew up in 2 towns that were right on the Metro North mainline out of NYC... They ran EMD FL-9s built in 1940s all the way up through the early 2000s in mainline service.... I remember riding with my grandmother down to pick up my grandfather coming home from work at the station in town. The Metro North FL9s used a whistle instead of a horn.... The sound the whistle and those big diesels spooling up as they pulled out of the station every day is a memory etched in my head....
When I was older but still a kid, we moved to Brewster, NY which had one of the big yards and maintenance facilities for Metro North. The yard was in walking distance from our house, and I remember taking walks by there at night in winter, when they would leave engines idling all night because of the cold. The sound of a dozen idling EMD diesels on cold winter evenings is another childhood memory etched in the brain of this motorhead....
I've never had the opportunity to work on a 2 stroke detroit... Been infatuated with them for a long time, though.... Been watching a lot of the busgreasemonkey youtube channel lately, which features a traveling bus mechanic that uses his 47 silversides RV to travel around working on primarily GM buses... I think I was sold when he did an in frame rebuild on the 6-71 in his personal bus in the street in front of his house...
I keep joking with my wife (well, half joking, half serious) that my mid-life crisis purchase won't be a sports car... I've always had several sports cars or sports car projects pretty much back since I was a teenager... Wouldn't make sense to buy another. No, my midlife crisis purchase will probably be something with a 2 stroke detroit... Generator or an old GM bus are about the only things I can think of I could justify buying by saying it would be "Useful" for the family.... Though a truck would be cool, too.
You also mentioned EMD diesels... I grew up in 2 towns that were right on the Metro North mainline out of NYC... They ran EMD FL-9s built in 1940s all the way up through the early 2000s in mainline service.... I remember riding with my grandmother down to pick up my grandfather coming home from work at the station in town. The Metro North FL9s used a whistle instead of a horn.... The sound the whistle and those big diesels spooling up as they pulled out of the station every day is a memory etched in my head....
When I was older but still a kid, we moved to Brewster, NY which had one of the big yards and maintenance facilities for Metro North. The yard was in walking distance from our house, and I remember taking walks by there at night in winter, when they would leave engines idling all night because of the cold. The sound of a dozen idling EMD diesels on cold winter evenings is another childhood memory etched in the brain of this motorhead....
